A Story Collection: A Fish at the Office
by MattieTaylor
Summary: A collection of short stories with imagining HatsuKoi/Kohaku at the Aeria Games office in Berlin. Most are S4L related but they will have crossovers between games.
1. Chapter 1

Background: Chopper is the only GM in today and Hatsu is at the office for a day. Don't ask how she even got there.

It's the start of Chopper's shift and he enters the office unaware that Hatsu is there.

"Pugger!" Hatsu jumps and flies across the air ready to give a massive welcoming hug.

Chopper sees a flying Hatsu but to her dismay, steps to the side. She slides across the floor as she lands face first in the floor.

"Senpai…" Hatsu sniffs as she sees Chopper walking toward Helmut as if nothing happened.

It's later on in the day and Chopper is busy answering tickets. There's some rumbling behind him but he doesn't want to look behind him because he knows it's Hatsu doing something.

Eventually he can't take it anymore.

"What are you doing?"

Hatsu stops what she's doing which was running along the aisles of the office. "I saw a pug so I'm trying to catch him!"

Chopper stares at Hatsu as if she was an alien. He then stares daggers at Larek.

Finally it's lunch time! Chopper is hungry and is happy that he has a break. As he leans back on his chair, he sees Hatsu playing with a pug. He thinks, 'fried fish for lunch?'

Hatsu, in the middle of petting the pug, has a weird feeling that someone is staring at her.

"Pugger noticed me!"

Chopper is back on his PC after having lunch which, luckily for Hatsu, wasn't fried fish. As he reaches over to grab his headset for a call with Adiutor, he sees a Hatsu peeking over the side of the table.

"Mel! Go away! I have to work!"

"But I wub you, senpai!"

"I know." Exasperated, he tries another tack. "Why don't you play with the pug?"

"He disappeared." She says it as a conversation ender but slinks away to find the pug.

Twenty minutes later Chopper hears Hatsu squealing and on instinct, he breaths a sigh of relief knowing (and without looking), that Hatsu has found the pug.

But he thought there would be a few squeals then all would be quiet so he has a light bulb moment and _mutes_ Hatsu.

In the immediate second that he has, he can't hear anything from Hatsu so he continues working.

There's a weird noise behind him. It sounds like snoring or even loud breathing. Chopper's call with Adiutor has ended about ten minutes ago and he's onto his next job - sorting out the map changes for the devs.

Chopper thinks, _it can't be Mel, right?_

As he swivels around on his chair he is greeted by a dog with large round eyes and a tongue that licks his face.

It's the pug in Hatsu's arms.

Unknowing to Chopper since there's no sound coming from her mouth, Hatsu is saying "I found the pug so I'm going to make you love the amazing pug!"

All he could see is her hugging the pug, waving him about and just her being really animated as if she doesn't even know she's been muted.

Between typing, Chopper sees Hatsu behind his monitor. He chooses to ignore her and continue working.

As he's typing, a pug suddenly jumps on his lap giving him a shock and he momentarily loses his train of thought. At the other end of the aisle, he glares at Hatsu who is grinning stupidly.

As Chopper gets off his seat to walk around the office, he sees Hatsu chasing the pug.

It then occurs to him that he couldn't hear Hatsu's movements since muting her and that she is now a ninja. He decides to unmute her once he gets back from his walk around the office.

It's late in the evening and Chopper is tired. He's sorted out most of the things he had to do for the day.

Suddenly there's something heavy on his head. Something heavy and loud and noisy.

He's also forgotten to unmute Hatsu and just remembered.

He also just realised there's a pug on his head.

"Hatsu!" Getting up, he grabs the ban hammer and chases Hatsu. It looks like she was giggling as she ran. It only fueled Chopper's need to do something _permanent._

Eventually Chopper swings his hammer. Unfortunately it collides with three chairs all of which break.

When he finally hits Hatsu (coupled with the joy he felt when he finally got her), she stumbles but continues running. Strangely the hammer slides off her and does nothing.

He slows to pick it up and he finds that the hammer end is slimy. He then realises that the pug must have been chewing on his ban hammer.

Suddenly tired, far more tired compared to his tiredness before running around crazily around the office, he walks back to his chair.

It's the end of Chopper's shift. Looking around there's no sign of Hatsu (he quickly unmutes her _now),_ so he grabs his stuff and leaves.

The next morning Gacha, Barolo and Kara see their broken chairs with a shocked expression on their face.


	2. Chapter 2

_Two days later_

Guess what. It's maintenance day! And to Chopper's dismay (yet again), Hatsu is still at the office. Once again, don't even ask how she got there before Chopper.

He decides to try and find out where she's hiding but that'll have to be later.

The rest of the GMs are already there and unfortunately for them they're sitting on makeshift chairs. Chopper tries to look innocent as he walks to his chair after visiting Helmut.

"Hi Pugger! Wanna see a flying pug?"

Shocked, it's Hatsu and guess what? She's spinning around on his chair! Eventually she spins too fast and flies away. Unfortunately she crashes into the window looking like a fly who got swatted.

Away from Chopper, to his delight.

Silently he prays that his chair isn't broken and, on seeing that it isn't, continues to start work as usual.

* * *

Today he sees that Hatsu is _annoying_ Gacha. Chopper says annoying because she annoyed him a couple days ago (even though she's supposed to wub him). Looking on his desk he sees the ban hammer breathing a sigh of relief that it's somehow clean and fortunately, still there. He decides to use it when necessary. Muting Hatsu is worse.

After a while just working, Chopper stretches to see Hatsu on Gacha's shoulders. She somehow has a pug on his head and amazingly, Gacha is still working despite her squealing and constant swaying. It looks like he was entertaining her by letting her climb on his shoulders but what Hatsu and Chopper don't know is that Gacha is trying to grab the little pug! He's hungry as it's nearly lunch time and after spending the morning eating hackers and chewing the hamsters that were found _not moving_ in the server room, he's looking for a change in taste.

All Chopper thought was "at least he can see her."

* * *

It's lunch time and Chopper sees Gacha who's talking to Larek into getting another pug thinking that maybe two pugs will mean Hatsu will annoy him less.

"No!" Chopper cries out. "There would be double the snorts and all the bad breathing!" For a second he debates whether having two pugs is worse than having a Hatsu _pug_ him every hour. But then realises she'll _pug_ him anyway.

 _Oh shit. Pug._

Even though he just _thought_ that, he sees a Hatsu run at him and the next thing he knows, is tackling him to the ground for a massive hug. "Pugger, I wub you!"

"Hatsu!" He was going to say 'I have to work' but since it's his lunch time, he's not too sure what to say. Not after dealing with her puggyness for so long.

"I squished the pug out," she says with a happy sigh. "I think he's hiding."

Not wanting to have Hatsu's attention, Gacha and Larek just stare at Hatsu and Chopper then continue talking about other options to deal with her. Something unintelligent briefly passes Chopper's mind.

"What about muting her?" Gacha says.

With Hatsu still hugging him and despite her grumbles of him staying put (cos she can hug better), Chopper gets up. "Do not think about muting her." He says it with a determination that scares Gacha.

* * *

Chopper is back at his desk and gets a fright when he sees Hatsu peeking up at him from under his desk.

"Hatsu! What are you doing?"

"I wub you, Pugger" She says happily.

He ignores her. "Where's the pug?" Chopper says that like the pug is the answer for everything related to Hatsu.

"In front of me."

"Hatsu…" He sighed almost facepalming "How many times do I have to tell you, I'm a reindeer!"

"Pug-ger!" She cries out then runs away laughing like a kid.

* * *

In the middle of the day Chopper gets up from his desk after doing mostly tickets and other things. He looks around but he can't see Hatsu. He can't see the pug either so he hurries to grab another coffee. He doesn't fancy being tackled by Hatsu again.

As he's waiting for his coffee, there's a sudden crashing noise coming from Kara's desk followed by a rumble almost like an earthquake. And it was coming toward Chopper!

Then in a mass of paws, a grumble of pugs jump on him knocking him on the floor.

He lays on the floor covered in paw prints, coffee and… other stuff wondering what the fuck happened.

Kara leans down next to Chopper saying, "what happened to my chair?"

He decides to lay there on the floor wondering what the fuck happened and whether this was worse than what happened on Sunday. He's covered in pug licks, the dirt on their paws and he desperately tries not to think whatever else.

As if he luck couldn't get any worse, he hears Hatsu shriek from out the canteen, "where the fuck is pug mountain?" There's the sound of footsteps and then she's at the canteen making more squealing noises. "Kya, Pugger with pugs!" She leaps up and belly flops on Chopper. "I wub you Pugger!"

Chopper thinks, ' _okay maybe this is worse.'_

* * *

When Chopper finally gets back to his computer (and to his delight, is nearly the end of his shift), he finds that his chair is gone! He vaguely recognises it as the chair that Gacha was sitting on and that Gacha is busy working away on tickets. He has a feeling that Gacha is avoiding his eye.

He has another feeling that Hatsu must have did something to it although because she's all about pugs, he's not sure.

It's the end of Chopper's shift! After a day full of pugs, Hatsu, even more pugs and work, he's happy to go home for the day. He decides to slink away before Hatsu has an idea to clutch his ankles begging him not to leave just yet.

He stops and to his horror thinks _I'm thinking of what Hatsu wants to do._


	3. Chapter 3

Background: It's Saturday again and Chopper's the only one in the office again! Hatsu is at the office and guess what, she's smuggled a Heiliger!

Once again, please don't ask how she snuck in.

* * *

Chopper comes into the office and after taking his fill of coffee and bringing in an extra cup to his desk, he sees someone spinning on his chair recklessly.

He grabs the back forcing that someone to flop quite violently over the armrest and on the floor in a dizzy pool of mush.

To Chopper's dismay it's Hatsu! Memories of the last time she was here come to mind vividly.

"Hatsu! What- Why are you here?" He tries to keep his mood in check but couldn't keep it out of his voice.

With her head still spinning, Hatsu shuffles toward the desk to rest her back on the table leg, "I wub you, senpai."

Shaking his head Chopper looks around for a pug but realises Larek isn't here. Instead his eyes rest on another of Hatsu's pugs, Heiliger.

"Heili!" He greets him with a waving hoof. They start talking before Chopper has to get to work. Unfortunately for him there's a pile of tickets Hatsu tried to bury with pug mountain that need to be answered. She only did that so she could get senpai to notice her.

Chopper picks up Hatsu and because she's small, he avoids her flailing arms, managing successfully to dump her next to Heili. He looks him right in the eye, slightly nudging Hatsu back when he sees her crawling toward him to say, "BABYSIT Hatsu!" He doesn't need to mention he has a pile of work to do to Heili.

Immediately Heili grabs Hatsu and drags her away from her senpai.

Sniffling Hatsu lets herself be dragged away, "Senpai…"

* * *

Later on in the morning Chopper picks up his coffee mug to find it empty. But he has a dilemma: Leave now for a short break with a refill to keep his mushy brain at bay or stay and continue working. On a normal day (that is, a day without Hatsu around), he would choose the first option but he doesn't want his seat to be taken. Chopper suspects Hatsu has a detector of some kind in her _noodle._ He eyes the corner she usually kicks her brain in, expecting it to be empty but there it is, on the floor looking sad. Like someone dumped cup noodles on the floor.

Chopper is hungry.

So as a precaution he switches chairs with Kantho. He'll switch them back when he's done with his break.

As he finishes his too short a break, he hears giggling and has a sinking feeling in his stomach. It's Hatsu!

Hatsu's spinning around recklessly in his chair at Kantho's desk laughing. Heili is sat at Extra's desk clearly exasperated.

How would Chopper get Hatsu off his seat now?

* * *

It's nearing munch time and everyone's getting hungry so they decide to order pizza. With the pizza shared between the three of them, they're attracting unwanted attention from the other GMs. Heili took it amongst himself to protect the pizza from nipping fingers.

So when they finally get some peace, Chopper decides to take a bite when-

"WHY ARE YOU PUTTING HEILIPUG IN YA MOUTH!" The shout was from a shocked Hatsu trying to balance a pug and Mokona on her lap. They almost fall over with her outburst. Hatsu gapes at Chopper.

Several things happen at once. Chopper immediately drops the pizza slice on his plate trying to process what the hell he just heard and whether the other GMs heard the shout.

Heili was in the middle of drinking and he started choking.

In the midst of everything the pug that was on Hatsu's lap jumps off to grab Chopper's slice and runs off with it.

There's a moment of silence. Even Heili and Chopper traded a glance at each other. They're suddenly put off from eating pizza. Heili couldn't believe it.

* * *

It's nearing the end of Chopper's shift when in the middle of typing something on Skype, he sees Hatsu staring at him from the table.

"Hatsu…" He says suddenly even more tired just from looking at Hatsu. But something seems off about her, he can't put his hoof on it. He spares her a few minutes to talk, "what's up?"

"Heilipug is sad! Even Mokona and pugs don't cheer him up. Plus," she sniffles, "HE'S THREATENING ME WITH HIS DUAL BLADES. Senpai, help!" She sinks to sit on the floor tearful constantly petting a Mokona.

Chopper thinks, _of course pugs and Mokona won't._

Shuffling over he sees Heili in the distance.

Heili is anything but fine. He's sharpening his Kirito blades. It's been a long time since they saw the light. It's because of Hatsu he didn't even manage to have even a bite of pizza.

Hatsu has learned a valuable lesson: Don't come between Heilipug and his pizza.


	4. How to Summon Extrabios

**How to summon Extrabios**

"PUGGER, DID YOU KNOW I CAN SUMMON EXTRAPUGS?" The shout so loud, came from Hatsu sat on Kantho's desk. She hasn't done anything to it, much to Chopper's dismay. One time he was off when Hatsu was at the office, she was so sad she hijacked his computer and changed his wallpaper to a white Mokona.

Chopper hurriedly takes his headphones off, "Jeez, Hatsu, I'm only here."

She continues bright eyed ignoring what he said, "you know how, you know how?" She leans nearer to him over the armrest.

He should have said no and continued working but for some reason he says, "I don't. How?"

"You have to find five pugs and sit them on her chair!"

Chopper looks at her as if she was speaking another language. Which sometimes he honestly thinks she is. He thinks, _where are you going to find five pugs?_

"COS EXTRA PUGS! As in more pugs!" Hatsu actually puts her arms in the air happily. She gets off the chair, "I'll show you!" And with that the fish runs off around the office leaving Chopper to wonder what planet is Hatsu actually from.

Slowly Hatsu creates a small pile of pugs on Extra's seat. Not knowing why he was here, Heilipug sits on her chair, followed by Adipug and Kripug. Unfortunately Kripug is being a naughty pug thinking of lewd thoughts seeing how (and why) everyone is going to sit on her chair.

Suddenly Chopper finds his arm being pulled by Hatsu. "Hey!"

"Senpai, I need ya!"

He tries to yank his arm out of her grasp, "I'm not a pug! I'm a reindeer!"

Hatsu stops so abruptly he almost crashes into her. Turning she stares right at him for a few awkward, spot shuffling minutes before bursting out with, "REINPUG!" and continues tugging him along.

"Hatsu!" He tries again to free his arm but falls on his back when she releases him without warning and runs off. She returns with both Mokonas balanced in her arms and throws in the pile and in a magical _poof_ , Heili, Adiutor, Kriton and the two Mokonas disappear only to be replaced by Extra wondering how she even got to the office on her day off.

"EXTRAPUGS!" Hatsu assaults her with many squishy huggles, squishier still when Extra is wearing her amazing pug t-shirt.

He doesn't want to admit it, but Chopper is impressed. "So how do you summon Kantho?"

Hatsu, still clinging to Extra stares at Chopper in thought for a long while that you can see the wheels are turning.

"My magic level not high enough to summon Kantho."

Meanwhile in another dimension, Kriton, Heili and Adi are wondering where they are and how to get back.

Kriton stares at the bundle of Mokona. "Fried Mokona, anyone?"


	5. Ironsight: A Fish at the Office

**Game: Ironsight**

 **A fish at the office**

For some reason Kohaku has found herself at the office. She doesn't have a means anymore but that won't stop her from stalking other people (probably until someone picks her up and dumps her outside, but don't give anyone ideas).

Once again don't ask how she even sneaks in. Is it because she's small? Is it because someone's helping her? Is it because there's a pug roaming around?

* * *

Flloyd is at the office. He's the only one in and with a cup of coffee from Helmet in hand and cats on the mind, he heads off to his seat to start the day.

But he freezes mid stride. Something caught his eye. There, sitting innocently on his desk is a hoppalong.

He hasn't seen one in a while and even a longer while in game so he ignores it and starts setting up.

But this hoppalong isn't just any hoppalong. It's pilot Omi!

* * *

Meanwhile Kohaku sees Flloyd sitting down. She's sneakily peeking over the table and she's not alone. She's joined by the lovely and cute Fate whose eating a dish Omi prepared the night before. An unspoken deal came between them.

* * *

It's almost lunchtime and after his daily tasks, Flloyd takes a few minutes to stretch. His eyes drift to the lonely Omi but not a thought passes his mind.

But he hears a quiet thud next to him and to his astonishment, it's another hoppalong! Mokona!

As he picks her up to place on the desk next to Omi, he sees Omi isn't alone anymore! A chibi plushie of Matera protects him from all evil with her trusty katana. He puts Mokona beside Omi anyway.

Where are they all coming from?

* * *

After lunch in the canteen, Flloyd spots one of his GMs, Helix.

"What's with all these rabbits?"

"What do you mean? There's only one."

Lost for words, Helix points to Flloyd's desk where it's completely covered in hoppalong! Shades of yellow, beige and pink all squish themselves on his desk and chair!

All but one hoppalong who is sat on Chopper's chair, Flloyd can't remember his name, only that he was the companion to Harris the master craftsman in Elysium.

* * *

Somewhere in the office Kohaku cringes really badly.

"What's wrong?" Fate asks.

Holding her sides together she says, "I feel like someone called Mokona a rabbit."

* * *

"I might know who it is." Helix says.

He and Flloyd are teaming up to oust the perpetrators. They huddle together surrounded by Ironsight merchandise as if that might protect them from the army of hoppalong that's now extended over Chopper's desk. It seems to work though. All the guns scare the hoppalongs so they hug each other for security.

"You need a pug though." Helix continues, a plan forming in his head.

* * *

"Where's that delivery?" Omi asks Kohaku once he's finished coordinating the hoppalong army. Along with last night's dish that's now only scraps, he made a new special dish. It was on the request of Kohaku, and he's followed through.

"Right here." Kohaku says, pulling out a box with the contents safety squish free. You could smell it and no doubt Helix will be able to when the lid is open.

* * *

By now it's the end of lunch and Flloyd is wondering how the fuck he can get to his desk without hurting the hoppalongs. They're looking at him with their secret weapon: Look cute and plushie. Big round eyes stare at him.

How is he going to explain to Chopper that they've took his ban hammer and is threatening to ban him? Not to mention his chair!

"I got one!" Helix shouts, holding up a pug. It's the one that's been running around the office for the past few months since the series began. It's grunts are torture to his ears and his breathing is even worse. Despite its short legs, it gave Helix a run for his money as he chased it around the office. He had half a mind to grab a gun from S4 and bribe it with pats.

Flloyd looks between Helix and the pug with an odd expression on his face. It's not a cat.

He shows the hoppalong horde the pug and-

* * *

"PUG!"

Kohaku jumps up from behind the hoppalong army to grab the dog from his arms but she's short and can't reach. She tumbles to the floor empty handed.

"Pug!"

"Hatsu!"

"Hi me." She says innocently.

"Were you behind this?"

"No. Give pug, Igor senpai!"

Flloyd holds the pug higher. But after a few tries she gives him a sad face and buries herself in the hoppalong army. Only to reemerge with the dish Omi prepared. She opens it and-

* * *

"PIZZA!"

Helix jumps at the pizza box but she dodges out of the way.

There seems to be a deal in the air tonight. Pug for the pizza! With some struggle they make the deal and she buries herself with the pug in hand in the hoppalong army. She has a new resolution: to target and annoy the CMs.


	6. Cherry Red Riding Hood

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p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"I sighed. I knew this. Kriton was the only person who knew I felt an aching in my chest for this girl that chased away my fears. Who made me feel normal despite my nature. What should I even say to that?/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);""Look, I can cover you for just today." He continued. "I won't be able to support you after-"/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"Both our ears twitched at the miniscule sound. Today's weather was fine, the skies were clear and under the orange glow of the evening sun, we could pick up anything. It was the sound of rustling leaves by something or someone that attracted us./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"On instinct I hid behind one of the trees whilst Kriton ran up a tree./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"It was only a few minutes before the rustler emerged. The girl in the red hood!/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"She was with another person, a permanent resident in the town, talking about something./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);""Cherry, stop it!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"em style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin-right: 2px;"Cherry, her name's Cherry. As red as her hood and as the eyes I bore/em. My heart skipped a beat and a smile burst out on my face. Were my cheeks as red?/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"I looked up at Kriton who was watching the two girls walk past. Sometimes he would peek at me from the corner of his eyes, probably gauging my reaction before returning to the scene in front of us./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"Once they were in reaching distance he jumped off his branch and off into the woods./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"Suddenly the woman looked straight at me and ran screaming back toward town, "WOLF!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"I was shocked. In order to get closer I was subconsciously holding onto the truck for support. It was my claws that revealed me. I should run but I couldn't. My legs wouldn't move and my hands wouldn't wield the sword that lay on the ground. I couldn't hurt Cherry./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"And she stared right back at me. But the strange thing was she wasn't frightened of me./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);""Cherry." The words fell out of my lips, the first words I said to her after months of just teasing glances, of watching her make her way into wolf territory as she gathered pumpkins and wheat and as such, fighting off anyone that wanted a bite out of her. Was there such a thing as a wolf being a guardian angel?/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"My hand was shaking as I reached out. I wanted to touch her, I wanted to know more about her but I couldn't put these overwhelming feelings into words. But it was a fairy tale ending./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);""GET AWAY FROM HER!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"My head snapped to down the pathway where the residents were holding guns./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);""Run."/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"Cherry took my attention. Her voice was like caramel. She touched my arm, "run now! But-" she paused, "when this dies down, I'll be on the other side of that birch."/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"My chest tightened. There was a birch that was the closest to the town. It had been there for thousands of years and it was my chosen place to watch her from afar./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);""Run, now!"/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);"The hoard was coming closer. I could hear them and my instinct was driving me mad to run. I couldn't take them all./p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);""I can't change them." I hurriedly said, "My fangs and my claws no matter how much I pray." I couldn't say that we couldn't be together no matter how deep I felt for this girl. Did she feel the same way?/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);""And I can't change where I'm from either." Cherry grabbed my arm and pushed me. The touch was like electricity to me. I jumped at it. "But despite this fairy tale, I'll protect you, no matter what."/p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5);" /p  
p style="box-sizing: inherit; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; color: #172062; font-family: 'Open Sans', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.5); margin: 0px 0px 0px !important 0px;"The only thing I saw as I ran was of her red hood billowing in the wind as the residents slowed to check up on her. We couldn't change what we were but maybe, just maybe, we could change the future./p 


	7. Mel's First Blind Date

My marine themed terracottage is like my feelings. I'm drowning in them.  
I never really noticed that as I stared at the ceiling on my bed. I had been there for… I'm not actually sure for how long, not really doing much before-

My bedroom door flew open and Arietty fell on my floor.

"Ari!" I hurriedly sat up almost falling over on my own as I rushed to her aid. "What are you doing? What's happening?" What year is this?

She grabbed my wrist and started pulling me out, "Koha, come!"

We were practically on the floor, crawling on our knees and she's dragging me to God knows where by the wrist and-

"Ari, you're hurting me!" I cried out.

She released me but stared at me as if her gaze could propel me forward. "Koha!"

"Fine!" I mumbled, getting up and heading out.

Down the stairs onto the second level of the main hall, I could see down onto the lower floor. Erected there was a large curtain fully drawn on a clothes rail. With the light coming in from the window on the right where the community chest was, I could see three people standing behind it.

Ari pulled me down the steps and onto the lower floor, forcing me to sit on the furniture facing the front door. Clearing her voice she threw her arms in the air and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"OHA, everyone's here now! Welcome Koha to amazing Ari's most puggy blind date!" she cried out.

I blinked. Did she just say blind date? Somewhere in the corners of my mind that registered but I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even sure of how I felt about it. There were too many emotions merging together. Too many for me to even pick one. Anger? No. Sadness? No. Confusion? No. Each word wasn't the one I wanted.

Behind one of the curtains one person yelled, "since when was this a blind date!"

I burst out laughing. From the voice I could tell it was-

"Who's the lucky one that'll walk away with the cute Koha and this?" In her raised hand she had something shiny, glittering in the morning light.

"Oh. My. God." I whispered shocked when I made the small trinket out. "Oh. My. Actual. God."

It was the ring I sort of gave Greylocke as a joke. I wasn't thinking of actually getting married to him, I just loved teasing.

But I was pretty sure that the ring in Ari's hand was something serious so I started heading up to my bedroom.

"Koha, where are you going?" she whined, tugging my arm back.

"I'm dying so I'm going to die in my bedroom."

"No!" The pull on my arm became stronger until I couldn't take it anymore and tumbled back in the seat. I sighed. Could this day get any worse?

Resuming back to the unbelievable scene playing in front of me, Ari said, "On today's show, our first contestant knows all your secrets and most importantly, knows how to keep them-"

I couldn't help it. A grin burst out. I had to curb it by biting my lip. Surely she wasn't talking about-

"He's someone who you've known for a long time -not as long as me though-" With that remark she winked at me. I half expected her to flip her hair again. "-and has been admiring you from afar."

I was still trying to put a cap on my outbursts when the curtain fell open and sure enough it was who I thought it was. Kriton!

I'm dying of laughter, send help!  
I struggled to get the words out, trying but failing to get air into my lungs. "Ari, he has a girlfriend already, we ain't working out!"

"Yeah, Ari…" Kriton said as he eyed her carefully. "You didn't tell me that it was going to be a blind date. You just said,'Kriton, log in, I need you to do something for me and I'll give you 1k gold!' So where's my 1k gold?"

I laughed louder clutching my stomach as the tears rolled down. It was such a Kriton type of thing.

"Shush! You weren't supposed to tell her that!" Ari said, flapping the comment away. To me, she cleared her throat again and introduced the next 'contestant' as Kriton sat next to me on the seat.

I leaned over to whisper, "so when are we playing Twin Saga again? Are you less squishy?"

"Only you would know I'm squishy."

I giggled.

"Our second contestant is new to the dating block. With her musical ability it's hard to see that she wrote the scores for several films already including your favourite trilogy."

I perked up. She will always have my full attention if it's about that trilogy.

"It's Melody!"

The curtain revealed a blond haired girl that captured me. Dressed in a green dress that floated across the floor, she was cute in all the right aspects. It didn't help that the light showcased her blushing cheeks and her shy personality.

I jumped out of the chair and hugged her. "Melody!"

Ah, even her skin was soft to the touch.

She giggled. "Haku, Ari told me a lot about you."

I grinned, my chest swelling at the little bunch of cuteness in my arms.

Ari did a mimic of a drumroll. "Maybe you'll walk out of here with Koha's ring on your finger, Mel! But don't forget our last contestant!"

We stood back looking at the curtain. Kriton had came up to us as I was in a bubble of melodic bliss.

"He's a guy that's as bright as the stars above and may have just as well have been chasing your heart all this time, not just help you with the evil mobs!" Ari rushed over to pull the curtain fully back to reveal the chevalier, Aryn!

"What's with that introduction?" He said, folding his arms. My breath caught. As much as I loved Mel in my arms, Aryn's shine was blinding. My breath caught.

An arm snaked around my shoulders. "Maybe," Ari said, "maybe you have a rival for Koha's heart, Mel."

But I wasn't the only one that was captivated with Aryn. I nudged Melody. She smiled apologetically at me, a sure sign and started talking to Aryn. Soon later they left my terracottage.

Kriton turned to Ari, "so, where's my 1k?"


End file.
